"Duino Elegies" poet / FRI 12-12-25 / Word from the Greek for "folded paper" / Hagfish lookalikes / Tropical plants said to bring good fortune / Distinction for a classic underground work / Conspiracy theorist's accessory / Main component of a "gutbucket," a jug band instrument / "Buss It" rapper Banks

Constructor: Adrian Johnson and Jess Rucks

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: MONEY TREES (29D: Tropical plants said to bring good fortune) —

Pachira aquatica is a species of tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, provision tree, Saba nut, Monguba (Brazil), Pumpo (Guatemala) and Jelinjoche (Costa Rica) and is commercially sold under the names money tree and money plant. This tree is sometimes sold with a braided trunk and is commonly grown as a houseplant, although more commonly what is sold as a "Pachira aquatica" houseplant is in fact a similar species, Pachira glabra. [...] The name "money tree" is believed to refer to a story of its origin, in which a poor man prayed for money, found this "odd" plant, took it home as an omen, and made money selling plants grown from its seeds. (wikipedia)

"Money Trees" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his major label debut studio album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). The song, which appears as the fifth track on the album, features a guest appearance from his Black Hippy cohort, fellow American rapper Jay Rock, and was produced by DJ Dahi. It entered the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart at number 19 due to high downloads, following the album's release. The song, mixed by Top Dawg engineer Derek "MixedByAIi" Ali, features background vocals from American singer Anna Wise of Sonnymoon. Money Trees samples the 2010 song "Silver Soul" by Beach House, as well as vocals from Lamar's "Cartoon and Cereal" and interpolates lyrics from E-40's "Big Ballin' With My Homies". (wikipedia)

• • •

My favorite part of this puzzle is how I keep looking at my grid print-out and reading SOFA BED as "SON OF A BED!" In case you were looking for a new minced oath, there you go. From me to you, free of charge. Could come in handy. "'SON OF A BED!,' he exclaimed at his puzzle, repeatedly." Not this puzzle, though. This puzzle was fine. Solid. Right over the plate. Just fine. The marquee stuff didn't hum as much as I'd like in a late-week puzzle, but none of it is outright disappointing. The fill ... is the fill. It hangs in there. Maybe leans a little too much to the ERG/OSHA/ICEE/ETRE side of the tracks, but it holds up. The highlight for me was "I KNOW, RIGHT?," a colloquial expression popular enough to have its own texting initialism ("ikr"). According to howtogeek dot com (!), "The colloquial phrase, "I know, right?" has been around since the 1990s. It's strongly associated with the "Valley girl" stereotype, but gained more popularity in 2004 when the movie Mean Girls was released." I also liked CULT STATUS (11D: Distinction for a classic underground work). Great answer. Let's use it in a sentence:

It originated as a low-budget attempt to cash in on the enormous success of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, but VALLEY GIRL's genuine charm, perverse period flavor and breakout performance by Nicolas Cage ensured its enduring cult status. (AFI)

You know, Valley Girl! AS SEEN ON TV (if you have cable, probably). I'm gonna see how many times I can work Valley Girl into this write-up. . . nah, I think I'm done. Let's see, that's one two three ... four Valley Girls. Whoops, that's five. OK, now I'm done. Almost.

Do not put FONDANT on your APPLE SAUCE irl, it will turn out bad. Speaking of one answer on top of another, AS SEEN ON TV and "THERE'S MORE" pair very nicely. Unfortunately they both come from the world of adspeak, which I could always use less of, but I do like that the answers make sense together. Cohere as a corner unit. I doubt that RILKE is ever seen much on TV, but he is seen on AS SEEN ON TV today, so good for him. Sidenote: I don't think I've ever read a word by RILKE (50A: "Duino Elegies" poet). I associate his poetry with sallow romantic types. Wikipedia tells me: "In popular culture, RILKE is frequently quoted or referenced in television shows, motion pictures, music and other works when these works discuss the subject of love or angels. His work is often described as "mystical" and has been quoted and referenced by self-help authors." Gotta say, you're not really selling me on him, wikipedia.

OMG I only just noticed that this puzzle does CRISS CROSS / APPLESAUCE! And it literally crosses them. Amazing. Gimmicky, but sly. Clever. 

My biggest TIE-UP today involved, yes, TIE-UP, which is to say it involved the latter part of WASH TUB and everything that ran through it (20A: Main component of a "gutbucket," a jug band instrument). I know the washboard is a "jug band instrument," but the WASH TUB, well, news to me. I feel like this isn't the first time I've been stumped by a "jug band instrument" this year. Oh yeah, here we go—had to know the whole gosh darn band for this puzzle back in September. That puzzle had WASHBOARD in it, as is right and true and good. This "gutbucket" stuff feels pretty Inside Jug Band to me. I don't dislike the answer WASH TUB though. Just ... when "board" wouldn't fit, I came to a stop. Not a T STOP, but ... actually, kind of a T STOP. A "Tub" STOP, anyway. I also had no idea what MONEY TREES were; or, rather, I had no idea that they were an actual non-metaphorical not-made-of-physical-money tree. I was gonna say that I only know MONEY TREE as a chain of dollar stores, but that's (more aptly) DOLLAR TREE. Lastly on the "I struggled with that" list is ERICA Banks. I know lots of ERICAs and a decent number of Bankses (Tyra, Ernie ... piggy?), but I do not know ERICA Banks. The title "Buss It" sounds promising, though. Let's find out.

[cw: profanity, booty, WASHTUB washboard abs]

"ASS!? E'EN ON TV!? 'Zounds!" — Shakespeare reacting to television nudity. Actually, more likely reacting to television donkeys. Actually, more likely reacting to television as a concept. Zombie Shakespeare would indeed be astounded by ass, or anything, on TV.

Bullets:

• 17A: Conspiracy theorist's accessory (TIN FOIL HAT) — conspiracy theorists are no longer funny to me in the least since they're currently busy at the HHS trying to kill everybody [I initially miswrote "DHS," but that's probably true too]
• 29A: What blue crabs do roughly 20 times in their lifetimes (MOLT) — look, I did not *know* this, but I was very proud to have gotten it off just the "O," which itself was, at that point, entirely theoretical (from "SHOOT!," which I wasn't sure of (21D: "Fiddlesticks!")).
• 34D: Hagfish lookalikes (EELS) — I kinda like the EEL clue arms race we're currently in the middle of. If I gotta see it every other day, then by all means, throw new stuff at me. Stuff like "HAGFISH" (NYTXW appearances to date: 0) (I was wrong! HAGFISH did appear once, back in 1966 [Cousins of eels]) (HAGFISH also appeared in A NYT acrostic from 2013). Why are they called HAGFISH? I guess eels do kind of (???) look like hags. HAGFISH are also known as "slime EELS." Are hags slimy? 
• 36D: Company whose logo has a hidden arrow between its fourth and fifth letters (FEDEX) — is it "hidden" if it's in plain sight? Yeah, yeah, I read "The Purloined Letter," but still. Actually, you know what, I never noticed that arrow before, so I take it all back. Objection overruled!

• 40D: Word from the Greek for "folded paper" (DIPLOMA) — me: "ORIGAMI" also me: "That's not Greek, that's Japanese" further me: "ORIGAMI!!!!" Actually I had "DIP-" and thought to myself "DIP? Nothing starts with DIP-!" I was reading the "Di-" as a prefix, rhyming with the "Di" in "Lady Di." Whose DIPLOMA comes "folded?" Is rolling a kind of folding? Where am I? What are words?
• 55D: Whitehouse in D.C., e.g.: Abbr. (SEN.) — "Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island, a seat he has held since 2007" (wikipedia).
• 56D: Physics unit equivalent to roughly 624 gigaelectronvolts (ERG) — pure crossword reflex. [Physics unit] three letters ERG. An electrical impulse at this point. I definitely knew what an ERG was at one point in my life (Physics being my only A+ in college—I know, right? stunning!). But whatever it means, the only thing it has meant to me since roughly 1991 is "a common three-letter crossword answer."

Time once again for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲! Let's see who we've got today:

First there's Winnie, who's wondering "How in the world is this a 'holiday' picture? Are there presents? There better be presents, lady."

[Thanks, Gingy!]

Not much that's "holiday" about this next one either, though if you've ever tried to lie down to read a book (perhaps as a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season), and you own a cat, you've probably experienced something like this. 

[Wesley cares not for Jane Austen. Stop reading this instant!]

[Thanks, Laurie (and Cynthia, Laurie's daughter, to whom Wesley actually belongs)] 

Bochy here seems to have a toy in his mouth already but he's sure there are more toys under there. Quite sure. 

[Thanks, Jim]

Rebecca sent in not only her gorgeous Pete the Cat (R.I.P, Pete) ...

... but also two views of Sunny, who is not going to miss a reason to celebrate this holiday season: 

[Thanks, Rebecca]

A different Rebekkah (the two-K variety) sent in her whippet Sparkie, seen here at 9 weeks old, chewing on some kind of elf larva:

[Thanks, Rebekkah]

The next photo in the queue was also, improbably, sent in by a Rebecca, but we're gonna save that for next time ... nah, let's just do it now. Astrolabe here is being so dutiful and patient, I don't want to make him wait even one more day.

[Thanks, Rebecca]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Popular stick-figure webcomic / THU 12-11-25 / Art class staple / Cable staple since 1972 / Landing area in a long jump / Sign for cheap admission / New Zealand parrot whose name sounds like a Korean automaker / 2002 book paying tribute to a 1960s rock legend

Constructor: Kevin Curry

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "What do I have to do to solve this clue?" — theme clues are lists of items separated by ellipses; answers are what you, the solver, have to do in order to understand each list:

Theme answers:

• DREAM TEAMS (17A: SEAL ... SWAT ... B ...)
• PICTURE PERFECT (28A: Utopia ... 10 ... ideal ...)
• IMAGINE DRAGONS (45A: Puff ... Komodo ... Smaug ...)
• THINK TANKS (61A: Fish ... scuba ... Army ...)

Word of the Day: IMAGINE DRAGONS (45A) —

Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of their single "It's Time", followed by their debut album Night Visions (2012), which resulted in the chart-topping singles "Radioactive" and "Demons". Rolling Stone named "Radioactive", which held the record for most weeks charted on the Billboard Hot 100, the "biggest rock hit of the year". MTV called them "the year's biggest breakout band", and Billboard named them their "Breakthrough Band of 2013" and "Biggest Band of 2017", and placed them at the top of their "Year in Rock" rankings for 2013, 2017, and 2018. Imagine Dragons topped the Billboard Year-End "Top Artists – Duo/Group" category in 2018. [...] Imagine Dragons have sold more than 74 million albums and 65 million digital songs worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They have also earned 160 billion streams across music platforms. They were the most streamed group of 2018 on Spotify, the first rock act to have four songs, "Radioactive", "Demons", "Believer", and "Thunder", to surpass one billion streams each, and the only group in RIAA history to have four songs certified higher than Diamond. According to Billboard, "Believer", "Thunder", and "Radioactive" were the three best performing rock songs of the 2010s.

• • •

There are a lot of things I do when I solve: "dream" is not one of them. The other opening verbs are all defensible, in terms of describing solver (i.e. my) activity, but "dream," absolutely not. It's possible I have totally misunderstood the theme and somehow "dream" works perfectly for some unifying concept I have yet to ... imagine. But right now, "dream" is superbad, and not in a good way. In a bad way. The other themers get better as they go along, in terms of instructions to the solver (i.e. me) as to how to make sense of the various lists. But I still can't say I think much of this theme—it really seems like the kind of theme that could use a revealer. I don't mind inferring a theme now and then, esp. on a Thursday (the allegedly trickiest of days), but this one could've used some kind of payoff. But I think the thing that's *really* bugging me is "dream." Still hung up on that outlier. Too bad CONSIDER or ENVISION don't occur at the front of any familiar phrases. They beat "dream" silly in terms of describing solver brain activity.

Another problem with this puzzle was it was way, way too easy. No resistance anywhere except the themers. Well, not *no* resistance. I had a weirdly hard time getting the center Downs in this puzzle at first pass. I'm sure PAPER is a staple of art class, but it's such a general, non-art-specific word that it never occurred to me (32D: Art class staple). I have no idea what kind of "art" we're dealing with. I assumed painting and wrote in the crosswordiest five-letter answer I could think of: EASEL. Getting to ENDED (?) from [Quit] was also not straightforward. I wouldn't swap those two words out very often, though I can see (if I squint) how one might. "I quit my job" (sure), "I ENDED my job" (what?). "I quit smoking" (great!), "I ENDED smoking" (what, like on the whole planet?). Didn't quite line up in my ear, those two. As for RINSE, it was the first thing I wanted, but I didn't trust it at all because ...well, the clue is written so weirdly. 30D: Hand sanitizer eliminates the need to do this ... it's odd. It kind of suggests that if you have wet hands (and thus have a "need" to RINSE), you can just use hand sanitizer and then you won't have that need. I mean, if you have a need to RINSE, you have a need to RINSE, and hand sanitizer does not "eliminate" that. Hand sanitizer doesn't supplant "rinsing," it supplants washing. I know what the clue means, but the phrasing is really awkward to my ear. So I definitely thought of RINSE but didn't trust it, especially since I couldn't get the adjacent 5s to work. But then NINA was a cinch (35A: Columbus's smallest ship) and eventually SANDPIT became obvious (38A: Landing area in a long jump) and this "problem" area wasn't really much of a "problem" after all.

The puzzle did have one winning element, and that's the stunning POPEMOBILE / "I GOT A WOMAN" pairing. Two great answers that create a deeply pleasing mental picture—the pope cruising along blasting Ray Charles out his windows. "I GOT A WOMAN" is a great song—the kind of song that's so great, you find yourself happily singing along to completely misogynist lyrics. Too catchy to resist. Just ignore that "woman's place is in the home" part, you'll be fine!:

She's there to love me
Both day and night
Never grumbles or fusses
Always treats me right
Never running in the streets
Leaving me alone
She knows a woman's place

Is right there now in her home 

One little problem, though. The actual title of the song appears to be "I'VE GOT A WOMAN"

Seems like a significant error on the NYTXW's part. But I love the song too much to get into it. Oh, wait, according to wikipedia, the title is "I GOT A WOMAN," but it was "originally titled" "I'VE GOT A WOMAN." Not sure why it changed. Again, don't really care. Just loving the song.

I wonder how much of the NYTXW's core audience is familiar with IMAGINE DRAGONS. Extremely popular band, by the usual metrics, and yet ... I'm not sure about the cultural penetration of that band to demographics older than millennials. I mean, I've known who they are for a long time, but I don't know them. Like, I could name one song, and I hear them precisely never. Pop radio just doesn't SEEP into everyone's lives the way it feels like it did decades ago. The ensiloing effect of extreme personalization. We don't experience culture that's not "ours" because we don't have to. I expect some sizable contingent of older solvers to have no idea who they are, in a way that a similar contingent of older solvers 50 years ago would not have been able to avoid knowing who, say, the Beatles or the Stones or even the Doors were. Anyway, IMAGINE DRAGONS is not really my thing, but their name now makes me laugh because it makes me think of this very funny Spotify Wrapped bit by comedian Josh Johnson:

["I looked at the data, and you've been listening to a lot of IMAGINE DRAGONS"]

Bullets:

• 5A: Greek goddess swallowed by her father and rescued by her future husband (HERA) — they left off "... who is also her brother."
• 40A: Sign for cheap admission (SRO) — short for Sit Right Overthere. Or Slash-Rate Opera, I forget which.*
• 48A: Take inspiration from (OWE TO) — not feeling this one at all. Being indebted to and being inspired by are different things. Nearly every other clue for OWE TO in NYTXW history has understood this. But then in 2024 people started trying to be "original" at the cost of clarity and accuracy, and now here we are. Look, OWETO is not good fill, so don't give solvers any reason to dwell on it. Clue it the boring old way so people can move on to better things.

• 62D: New Zealand parrot whose name sounds like a Korean automaker (KEA) — just [New Zealand parrot] is fine. Everyone should know about the KEA, the amazing bird that saves us from having every KEA clue be [Mauna ___]. Precisely the kind of crosswordese I can get behind. More KEA I say, and none of this condescending "sounds like" baloney in the clue. Let the KEA soar free!

[Trash parrot!]

And now it's time for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲, and boy do I have a lot of them. We'll see if I can get through all your submissions by the end of the year. Tall order. Here we go.

First up we've got Mary, with a Christmas past / Christmas future set. I'm just gonna give you her note in its entirety:

I need to send 2 photos this year. From 2022, my husband Dale wearing his red Christmas shirt and reading the paper with Henry on his lap. I lost them both this year – Dale to dementia and Henry soon after. After my granddaughter rescued 2 kittens that had been abandoned in an open pet carrier they became my early Christmas present. Pepper and Curry are delightful companions and add some spice to my life!

[sweet newspaper lectern baby!]

[why won't my cats do this?]
[Thanks, Mary!]

Next we have Rudy, who decided to dress up as Santa, and Leo, who thinks the belt is all wrong

[RIP Leo, who died just last week]
[Thanks, Ted!]

Here's Beezus the red-nosed reindeer ... enduring the season ("Shockingly compliant"). 

[how could the other reindeer be mean to this sweet baby!?]
[Thanks, Heather!]

Kiwi here got his "holidays" confused, but we're gonna let him in anyway. Here's Kiwi sitting beneath his killer cat-bat balloon. That's Halloween, sweetheart. Or maybe that's just what Santa looks like in Kiwi's mind, who knows?

[Killer Cat-Bat is gonna find out if you've been naughty or nice and brother let me tell you you better hope the answer ain't "naughty"]
[Thanks, Paula!]

And finally today, Bianca. She sees you when you're sleeping. She sees you watching Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe. She sees you regifting that ugly sweater. She sees you.

[Thanks, David]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*actually, Standing Room Only  

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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